Its been one of those summers. A lot of activity going on, a new puppy and the weather not always cooperating, there haven’t been a ton of days on the boat this summer. Kind of a bummer really. The 4th of July was fun, nice 4 days on
the boat but I think we could tell that after 4 days, little Diver couldn’t wait to get back on land.
We have also gone to dinner at the new harbor side restaurants, anchored at Peddock and relaxed some and gone out with family.
There has been some interesting sailing activity in the harbor this summer with all of the newness of South Boston. This year we have also taken a few fishing trips on the Reel Pursuit which has been a ton of fun. Our friends Brian and Jenny have had their twins Isaac and Phoebe and everyone is doing well.
The Dive Inn went on the Martha’s Vinyard shark tournament this year and they caught 3 dog fish and a 200lb Maco. I am sure that was a great trip. Wish I was there but while I thought I would have a lot of free time this summer, I haven’t had that yet.
Good news is we have been doing a lot of video. We will be putting together some sort of compilation to show toward the end of the summer.
Good news is, Donna and I are on vacation this week so we are off to the boat today for a day or so, then the weekend, at least as long as the weather holds out.
My cousin is getting married. So at 45 I think it is more fun to do a bachelor party on the water. We gathered up the cousins in MA (I have to say that because our other good cousin in Maine, Lenny, was left out – very sad) and headed out on a “3 hour tour”. It was a bit like Gilligan’s Island (minus Mary Ann and Ginger) but we had a fun time. We brought with us, sandwiches, beer, munchkins, and good attitudes. We had a great time. It is always good to be out on the water relaxing. Here is a short video of the Fishin’ Magician in action. (Oh and by the way, CONGRATULATIONS Eric and Lee on the wedding!)
As Ryan just told you we took our winter trip to the Bass ProShop. The guys were a bit confused when I showed up with my new camera. That’s right, I wanted to document the day with my new Cannon 7D. Yes, I have a new hobby. I also have a new lens with my new camera. Now, no more “long looking” shots of those whales or sinking ships, I’ll be getting some up close and personal shots. Also, the camera does video. I have to say, I have had cameras in the past, and I could take a fully automatic picture but if there was anything tricky I was toast. What’s different this time? While working with my startup company we began using a company to help us with our videos for work. (Check out our best stuff on YouTube – The Storage Network or our customer case study of a company called Snowball VFX that does video and animation.) Anyway the guys are called MediaBoss TV and THEY ROCK. Ian, their creative director is an outstanding videographer and camera dude. He has shown me all the ways to use the camera to get the most out of it and I love it. This season we will be getting some great shots and I am looking forward to it. In the mean time, here are a few shots of our trip to the Bass ProShop.
Also, as you can see, the counter has started, less than 2 months away from the boat launch, and only a few weeks from the Boat Show.
I must be honest that most of us have been giving our good friend Steve a lot of grief on falling behind in his blog updates. We recently went on a winter trip to Bass Pro to purchase tackle for the season but mostly to get the idea of spring in our minds. That night I came across a quote that made a lot of sense to me. It was this “Learn to manipulate the elasticity of time to be able to enjoy the good times a bit longer.” I thought about it and the way most of us count down the winter days until spring arrives. This time is full of possibilities as boats are put back in the water, first trips of the season are made and old Friends return to the things we all love. It is this time when all that summer can be is possible, we have the ability to take any trip we can imagine, catch countless Tuna on Sacco’s boat and only imagine the fun Frank and Dayle will encounter on the newest boat in the E dock fleet. Paul at this point has caught a fish on every trip he will make, and in my mind this season we will take the boats out more then any other year. So I will leave you all with this, take this time to enjoy the moments we know will be enjoyed this upcoming season as well as the ones we have all had. I Truly believe that by manipulating things this way you can sneak through the last days of winter with a smile on your face.
Wow – What can I say? I hate those guys who take forever to update their blogs but this season was a bit crazy. I had a new job this boating season for a startup company and well, needless to say, seven trips to Israel later and it was tough to stay on top of the blog. I used the time to be on the boat instead of write. (The good news is we sold the company so I’ll be more up to date on the blog this season.)
Speaking of time on the boat, this summer was great. Good weather and Donna’s family came to Boston for 2 weeks and we spend some great time on the boat. We also took the family fishing on Reel Pursuit charters with our good friend Captain Paul and the man of the hour was Donna’s cousin Cesar who caught a 36″ stripped bass. We cooked it up and ate it and it was delicious!
We also did a lot of relaxing on the boat with the family. Afternoons on the water, anchored and swimming. It was all good fun.
Now who would have guessed this? Tony and Kathy picked up a new boat. The name of their boat is called Pipe Dream III. Well, as everyone at the marina will tell you it is difficult to move your “house” whenever you want to go for a boat ride so Tony picked up a nice 23′ center console for bombing around the harbor. Its a really cool boat. The name of this boat is Day Dream. Combine Day Dream, with Tony, Steve, Ryan and Paul’s spirit of adventure and you now have the newest boat in the Constitution Marina’s fishing fleet.
Day Dream makes a few trips a week and Tony and Ryan bring the fishing captain Paul out for lessons on how to fish Boston’s harbor a couple of times a week. It is a great time all around. The stripers are really running this year (as are all the fish) and as you can see here – even Ryan can catch a fish or two.
I am sure this boat may not do as much fish catching as Paul does on Reel Pursuit but I am sure there will be just as much fun. I actually went out with the guys last weekend for a morning and it was a blast. We had a great time, didn’t catch anything but had a great lunch at Marian Bay!
I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time. In the vessel behind Donna and I is the Veranda. Bruce, on the Veranda, has been very kind to us over the years and has helped to get the Boston Boating Blog on to a number of web sites including The Constitution Marina site. Bruce is a member of Save the Harbor Save the Bay and it is a great cause in taking care of our harbor’s and bay’s around Massachusetts. They put on a number of great programs such as the Parade of Lights every year where boats decorate themselves and travel around the harbor and light it up – it is very beautiful. They also do a number of things for kids to get them active in the harbor and take them to some of Massachusetts Islands and do a good deal of sight seeing.
You can hear Bruce on NPR 90.9 WBUR every once in a while and they just did a piece on Boston Harbor. You can also see him in the Globe speaking about Save the Harbor quite often. Bruce is also quite the fisherman.
If your an avid boater and love the harbor – look into Save the Harbor Save the Bay – it is a great cause and can help preserve the harbor for you and your children.
I just looked at the counter and noticed that there is less than a month until it is time to put the Donna Julie II back in the water for another season! (Actually I cannot tell a lie, I have received a number of emails from friends saying ‘the boating season is right around the corner’.)
So what has happened this winter? Well, quite a lot. Dan from East Coast Flightcraft and my buddy Brian and I all shared some season tickets to the Bruins. Yeah, they had a crap season but it is still a nice get away for an evening. Speaking of hockey, the US played some great hockey in the Winter Olympics this year in Vancouver but just couldn’t pull it out in the end. Too bad, I love the Olympics, wish we could have repeated 1980.
Also, I got a new job. I now work with the CEO from my old company at a company called Storwize. I have never worked so hard in my career but I have to say, I have also never felt like I have been able to add so much value. The company is great. We do something very unique – Real-time, random access compression of data storage. (Maybe not the most interesting topic for boaters, but a very cool technology.) I started a new professional blog, The Storage Alchemist, The job has also brought me on my first trip to Israel (2 times) with a trip to the Gloan Heights for some wine, and I have been to London a couple of times as well, and not to mention all the travel around the US. The boat will be a great place to unwind from the job when I get a break.
Donna’s Showroom at Venegas and Company is also EXPANDING! That’s right, her new company is doing super well and she is growing. You can also visit her Linked In and Facebook pages. I am very proud of her.
Right after the 2009 season ended we took at trip to NH to visit Tony and Kathy for a send off for their daughter who joined the Navy. Hope she is enjoying it now that she is passed bootcamp. Also, CONGRATS to Tony and Kathy, they upgraded their boat this season. I can’t wait to see it!
We got the blog listed on the home page for The Constitution Marina - I have to that Bruce from Save the Harbor, Save the Bay. This year we are not only going to blog about what goes on during our fun times this summer, but we are also going to try to do a little more good and be a bit more informative about what is going on around the harbor. I mean, we wouldn’t be having all this fun if we didn’t have the harbor to begin with right? (I promise I won’t get ‘preachy’ – but I can’t vouch for Bruce who I have also made a contributor to the blog – Bruce, WELCOME!) If your not big on traveling around a bunch of web sites you can always find Save the Harbor Save the Bay on Facebook and see what they are up to.
Just as a quick shameless plug, they are hosting a fund raiser on March 31, 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston. Take a quick look at the short video “Water Power” – It is two minutes and worth a watch.
As in true form I’ll give you an update on the Boston Boat Show of 2010. It was great to see my old friends from East Coast Flightcraft (ECFC), but the overall show was not good this year. I heard a rumor at the show that in 2009 4800 boats were repossessed in the US and now there are only 800 of these boats left. The bad news, new boat sales are down and that makes me sad for guys like Dan at ECFC because they do such a great job with selling, service and support. The good news, used boat prices are actually going up as the inventory goes back down, so if your looking to upgrade, get ready.
Lots of weather this winter and spring did a number to “D” dock. My I am sure the dudes at the marina will have it all sorted by the time we bring the boats in for the summer.
Photo’s courtesy of Ryan who I am sure will be posting some great stories this summer as well.
And finally, you all have to check out the new Boston Fishing site. Paul’s site is fresh and new and he is getting ready to have a great and prosperous fishing season. Tell all your friends, book some corporate fishing, he has even stepped into the 20th century and even takes Paypal! Way to go Paul, best of luck this summer and catch a ton of fish, especially tuna!
Okay gang, that is all for now. Be prepared, I may update the face of Boston Boating Blog and I plan on doing a lot of updating, I have a new camera and video camera so there promises to be some multimedia this summer.
The rumor of possible hurricane seas and winds didn’t keep us off the dock on Friday. Paul, Frank and myself took off at
5am (which I am not sure why, the fish aren’t even up yet) to try again to catch the illusive tuna. I also have to say I have never felt it that hot or humid that early since when I was in boot camp for the Navy at Great Lakes, Ill. Wow! We motored out on the ‘About Time’ (Franks boat) to Stellwagen Bank to see if
we could christen his boat with a tuna. It was dark when we took off (as you can tell by the ‘fancy’ photo. I always wanted to try to get this affect, but honestly, this was an accident) and we also watched the sun rise through the fog and it was pretty cool.
We headed to the Bank and as we headed south it really looked like we were headed into the eye of the storm. As we were making our way south along the edge of the bank, in the fog, we saw two tons of fish – whale (which is small for a whale) jump completely out of the water. In all my days on the ocean, I have never see this. Then we saw the larger whales again do things I have never seen before. They started slapping the surface of the water with their large fin. We were trying to understand what they were doing. We thought they were startling the bait fish so they could eat. This would be a good sign because tuna also eat bait. As we were looking for the fish and the bait that the tuna eat, we were struggling. We were tracking no bait fish on the chart. It was crazy to watch these whales breech and slap the water. It was amazing. We fished for another three hours without seeing anything except this whale, behaving exactly like the whale we saw that morning. Then, out of nowhere, and me without my video camera on, the whale came all the way out of the water, just like you see on National Geographic. It was awesome. My dad always said, you’ll only see this a couple of times in life, if ever. He was right, since I have been on the water from age 15, I have never seen this.
Well, the hurricane will be keeping us on the dock for the rest of this weekend, then the next two weekends we will be back to the water and one of these weekends is our fabulous Labor Day weekend meat fest. Then I head to Germany for work for 10 days so I’ll miss a great weekend of boating in early September. I already can’t wait to get back.
It was a day for fishing, but little did I know we were fishing for charity. Every year the Data Faber holds a charity fishing tournament out of East Boston Marina. Some of the sponsors are Sperry Top Sider and Johnny’s Market. There are raffles for big prizes such as Red Sox and Bruins tickets as well as drawings for prizes that have been donated. It is a really fun time.
The event actually starts the night before at the marina in East Boston where we have a barb-b-que with hamburgers,
sausages and hot dogs, chips, potato salad and beer. We review the rules for the next day, chat a bit and then go home to rest for the big day. We traveled over the the marina in Frank’s boat, About Time. It was a nice night to be on the water.
We took off at 6 am on Saturday. The plan was to troll around for some stripers or blues but if there was no bite after an hour or so, we were headed east looking for the illusive tuna.
We found them. Around 10:15 we saw tuna smashing all around us. We trolled squid in a circle for the next 5 hours and saw jumpers all over. We had a few that were jumping just a few feet off the side of the boat but nothing that day wanted our bait. Paul, captain of Reel Pursuit, and the boat we fished on for the day, Steve, Frank, Scott and myself worked really hard to find and catch the tuna that day but it just wasn’t happening.
It was a great day though. Reminded me of when I was a kid. I’ve loved fishing for a long time. From one of the first times I went fishing at home, to when my dad, his friend Jim and I used to go tuna fishing off of Bailey’s Island in Maine on the Close Enuff. I would stand in the tower or on the bridge and look for tuna all day – just like I did on the Reel Pursuit. Makes you feel close to mother nature. Or the time I spent in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico fishing and call this small tuna. It is so great to be on the water for the day.
We got back to the marina to see all the fish that had been caught that day in the striper category as well as the ‘blues’ category. No one caught a blue fish so they gave out prizes for the top 6 blue fish entries. The largest was a 48 1/2 inch striper – a big fish and then they got smaller from there. (I’d have pictures but they were all on everyone’s boat on ice.)
After the weigh in, it was time to raffle off the prizes. I had purchased 2 raffle tickets for the big prizes (which there were 3, Red Sox tickets, Bruins tickets and Gas for the boat). I also purchased a bunch of tickets for the ‘grab’ table. When the drawing started they drew for the Red Sox tickets first and I freakin won! These tickets were so good, it was almost like you were playing first base. I have to admit however, I was a bit bumbed because if you know me, I am a huge Bruins fan and what would be the chances that I would now win those. So my strategy was, perhaps the winner of the Bruins tickets would be a bigger Sox fan and we could trade. They drew the raffel for the gas and then the Bruins tickets and wouldn’t you know it, I won those too. (Along with a $100 Sperry Top Sider gift certificate w/ each win). Wow! Can’t beat a day like that. During the grab raffle I think Paul’s boat brought in another 10 prizes so all in all we had a fun day.
(Oh, just to mention – again, on a weekend – Boston’s finest showed up to give out mooring violations. Why it takes three of them to walk around the marina to do that is still beyond me!)
Now in all seriousness I am going to issue a challenge. This tournament is for charity and a good one at that. This year they had 23 boats enter the tournament (which was up 10 boats from last year) and raised over $4,000. Next year I want to help with this event and I would like 35 boats in the tournament. The entry fee is reasonable – it is $125 for the boat and $45 to bring all your mates to the ‘Captains Meeting’ the night before and have some burgers, hot dogs and beer. (Even if you don’t eat you have to go to the meeting to learn all the rules.) So, enter your boat, if you own a charter, donate the 1/2 day and we will fill the boat and cover expenses but let me know – we can make the a fantasitc event and try to raise over $10,000 for next year!
